Detroit
Movie Palaces
The
Film Programs of the Detroit Film Theatre, Michigan Theater, and
Redford Theatre
The Film Programs of the Detroit Film Theatre, Michigan Theater, and Redford Theatre
Your Guide to Classic Movie Theater Filmgoing!
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Looking Back
September 1956
Step back in time to see what area movie theaters were presenting in September 1956. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.
For more information about these theaters, see Cinema Treasures or Water Winter Wonderland.
"Grand
Opening Of The Completely Remodeled Michigan," read a large ad in
the Sept. 26, 1956 Ann Arbor News. That evening,
Michigan patrons first enjoyed a "new entrance and marquee, magnificent
lobby, double box office for fast service, re-designed auditorium, soft
improved lighting, entire theatre newly carpeted, modern rest rooms, luxurious
foyer, [and] refrigerated air conditioning for summer comfort." A
photograph of the renovated 1956 Grand Foyer currently graces the walls
of the Michigan.
In
the News ad,
Michigan manager Jerry Hoag noted that visitors had been guided on catwalks
among scaffolding to see movies: "The pleasures they (moviegoers)
received from the pictures, even under these rugged conditions, more than
repaid the Michigan staff and myself for the inconvenience of keeping
the theatre going." Ken MacDonald of radio station WPAG interviewed
Opening Night visitors, who enjoyed Alec Guinness in The
Ladykillers and a film about University of Michigan football,
The Tradition That is Michigan.
The
marquee of the Redford was bursting with pride as Deborah Kerr and William
Holden starred in The
Proud and the Profane, and Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo appeared
in The Proud
Ones. Patrons also pounded the pavement to see 23
Paces to Baker Street (Van Johnson) and Crime
in the Streets ("The Whole Story of the Rock and Roll Generation").
Earning weeklong runs at the Redford this month were big hits from the
previous winter (Guys
and Dolls) and summer (Trapeze).
Detroit
fans of art film visited the World and Studio theaters to see Madame
Butterfly (1954) and French comedian Fernandel in The
Return of Don Camillo (1953). Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe—Diana
Dors—appeared at the Surf and Coronet in A
Kid for Two Farthings (1955). The Krim hosted a delightful double
feature of Leslie Caron in Lili
(1953) and the ballet classic The
Red Shoes (1948).
The
Krim also scored a big coup on Sept. 18, 1956 with the Detroit premiere
of the Van Gogh biography Lust
for Life, with Kirk Douglas. On Sept. 26, War
and Peace opened to critical and popular acclaim at the Michigan
in Detroit.
